Burnham Bees & Wildflowers: April 2013

I am almost 29 weeks now!!! I can’t believe how fast it’s gone. I don’t do much these days. Between being unbelievably tired and not having a car still, I am usually home all day long during the week. I think it’s making me a bit stir crazy. I need to up my yoga, but I have been getting the danged Braxton hicks a lot and my preggie gym partner Deana was diagnosed with really low iron. So she is taking iron pills to try and get her levels back up. Until then she can’t really do the gym and I hate going by myself. Sigh…

Gracelyn is doing well though. I had an ultrasound last week and everything looks perfect. It’s comforting to hear, but all of Isabelle’s ultrasounds looked perfect as well. All I can do is pray that everything will be normal with her, and if not then pray for the strength to be able to handle it. Some days are just so hard. I wish we could find out what she has. I just don’t understand how the best specialists in the state haven’t been able to figure it out in the past year and a half. I always feel so bad about complaining. I know there are people who are having a hard time conceiving or have children with much more severe disabilities. In church on Sunday they talked about trials and how if we could see each other’s trials and trade with them we would probably want to keep our own. God gives us the easiest trials he can in order for us to learn the lessons we need in order to grow and get back to him.

In other news, we found a momma cat and three eyes-closed kittens in our yard a few days ago. We have put them in a box in our laundry room for now. Ben and I are both really allergic to cats, but what can you do? They are so cute! Our tortoise Humphrey is loving being free in our little front yard!! Ben is doing great with the bee keeping. He has learned how to catch swarms. We also got our first batch of orange blossom honey. It is delicious!!! We had biscuits from scratch with butter and honey after dinner last night. I think food always tastes better when you work for it like biscuits from scratch or vegetables from your garden. Honey is no different! It was so exciting to watch Ben make it.

Do you think food tastes better when you work for it?!

Big belly!!

Her tongue is always out these days.

Humphrey!!

My succulent is still alive!!! We are all impressed around here.

This is her Ben look.

Silliest grin I have ever seen!!!

The cat that has us non-stop sneezing sigh...

Mmmm honey!

Pretty girl.

Being a stay at home Mom is the best! I really love my job, I get to stay home with my precious daughter, keep my home clean and pretty and have a nice dinner ready when my Hubby gets home. This is the life I always wanted and we are very blessed that we are able to do this and live off of one salary. It isn’t easy. We have a strict budget and savings plan. We follow the Dave Ramsey program. If you haven’t read the book “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey I would highly suggest it (I am not getting paid to endorse this book. We just really love it, and it has helped us so much with our financial planning.) It takes a lot of sacrifice and we aren’t able to go out and blow money like a lot of our friends. It is worth it to stay home though and be able to make sure our children are being raised the way we want. I always want them to know that they are our number one priority.

As much as I love staying home, it can be hard. Especially when you don’t have a second car like us right now (Ben’s car is being repaired so he has been using mine this past month). I can go days without going outside or talking to another human in person besides Belle who doesn’t do much talking ha ha and Ben for the few short hours between work and bed. Most days I don’t even get dressed or do my hair, and that is just pathetic. I try to spruce up before Ben gets home but still…I need to set a better example for my children or they’ll grow up thinking all Mom’s do they’re chores in their underwear! So I have decided to make a goal of getting ready within the first three hours after waking up. I have seen a lot of cute hairstyles on Pinterest I want to try. If I like them I will post pictures of the results!!

I am officially in the third trimester!! I can’t believe it’s gone by so quick. Gracelyn now weighs almost two pounds and she is going to start packing on the pounds for the remainder of my pregnancy. She kicks really hard now. I can see my whole belly moving when she is really active. I have to go in for an ultrasound soon. With Belle’s issues they like to watch me more carefully and do more ultrasounds. I don’t really see the point since the top neurologist and geneticist in the state have Belle outside the womb and can’t seem to figure out what is going on… but hey, at least I get to see my sweet baby. We should be able to tell what she will look like when she is born in this next ultrasound. So exciting!

Isabelle is doing well. She can stand while holding on to things and seems to be making a bit better eye contact and interaction. I just wish all these specialists could figure out what was going on. The geneticist says she is a “tough cookie”. The not knowing is just so hard to bear sometimes. She is still the sweetest and happiest baby I’ve ever known, so that makes it easier to bear. I am just so grateful to have her and want to be able to give her all the help possible.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week. If anyone is interested, I will be watching this http://www.lds.org/church/events/april-2013-general-conference?lang=eng and being inspired by the words of the Prophet, Apostles, and other wonderful speakers all weekend long!!! Here are some recent pictures. Enjoy!!!